I need help with my .32 cal, it seems like nothing I try helps with accuracy. I have tried everything from 15 to 40 grains and i can’t get smaller than 3 inch group at 50 yards. I am using 2F Goex it’s the only pound I found last year, I wanted 3F but nobody had any. I am using .010 patches both lubed and I tried oiled. I can’t get a thicker patch down the barrel. I am also a felt wad over the powder. This is a percussion aswell. I went today to try again and the first 2 shots almost overlapped, 3rd shot went wild. I shot a total of about 20 or so cleaning in between every shot. I don’t know what else to do, I was planning on going this Saturday for squirrels as it’s our 1st day of the season this year. However, if I can’t find out what’s going on then I don’t want to be out there just wasting lead balls and expensive black powder.
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Pedersoli Scout .32 cal Accuracy Help
- Thread starter Leadriver
- Start date
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Are you shooting off hand or seated at a bench?
You could try pushing a patch down over the powder instead of the wad.
Also, what do your fired patches look like?
With a small caliber gun and light powder charges, you shouldn't have to clean the barrel after each shot. A bit of fouling isn't a bad thing in some rifles.
You could try pushing a patch down over the powder instead of the wad.
Also, what do your fired patches look like?
With a small caliber gun and light powder charges, you shouldn't have to clean the barrel after each shot. A bit of fouling isn't a bad thing in some rifles.
Yes, I was shooting off a solid bench on sand bags. I tried just seating a patch over the ball but it didn’t make any difference. Fired patches look good, a lot better with a wad behind it. I do recall patches being ripped when no wad was used. I am just at my wits end and frustrated. My Lyman Great Plains can stack .50 cal round balls on top one another with little issue. I do seem to get a lot of fouling after just one shot. I take rubbing alcohol and run a wet patch threw it then run a dry patch. I also tried swabbing with a spit patch but there wasn’t any change.
You didn’t say anything about what size balls you are using. If available you might have better luck with smaller ball and thicker patch.
I am using a .310 ball and .010 patch. I did find some .50 cal pillow ticking patches I will try. I’ll just cut off the excess after starting the ball. The lube appears to be old on thoes so I’ll try adding some bore butter to the patches. Hopefully it helps, I’ll try again tomorrow.
hanshi
Cannon
A .010" patch is just too thin. Also they are probably tearing the holes when started into the muzzle. Get some emery cloth and use it with you thumb/finger to break up and smooth the sharp crown. Are you using a short starter? The prb should be snug enough to where you need to use one. Buy pillow ticking and cut your own patches; they should measure about .014" to .015" thick. Try Hoppes BP Lube as it should make seating the prb much easier. For the woods it's hard to beat TOW mink oil. Good luck.
Yes I’m using a short starter, there hard to start then after they slide just ever so snug down the barrel. The recovered patches didn’t show any holes or tears in them. I’m going tomorrow to Jo-Ann’s to buy pillow ticking. I just don’t know what lube to use. I really don’t want to have to order anything.
I went to Joanns today and only found 2 options. They had pillow ticking and mattress ticking. The mattress ticking measured at .015 but felt like it had a loose weave. The pillow ticking measured at .018 but was really stiff and had a tight weave. I thought .018 would be to thick until I compress it some with my micrometer and then it read close to .015. I hope it loads ok, I bought a whole yard for 5.00. I have never heard of mattress ticking and never read about it being used so I opted to leave that and go with traditional pillow. Any opinions?
Rock Home Isle
54 Cal.
I had a .45 calibre Mississippi PoorBoy made 14 years ago. It shot pie plate sized groups at 50 yrds, 3” to 4” groups at 25 yrds. I sent that gun back to the builder 3 times, only to be told each time that the gun was fine and nothing was wrong. For 14 hrs I could not get this gun to shoot accurately. Then I took it to my local gun smith, took him all of 5 minutes to figure out the problem.
How does the crown look on the muzzle? In the little .32 calibre, it doesn’t take much of nothing to affect accuracy.
I’ve acquired 4 new guns in the last 8 months, the only one with a good crown was my Kibler SMR. All the others saw huge improvements in accuracy, once they were re-crowned.
How does the crown look on the muzzle? In the little .32 calibre, it doesn’t take much of nothing to affect accuracy.
I’ve acquired 4 new guns in the last 8 months, the only one with a good crown was my Kibler SMR. All the others saw huge improvements in accuracy, once they were re-crowned.
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I’ll have to look but I checked the crown before and didn’t see anything abnormal. Actually that barrel from the Pedersoli is the best barrel I have seen from any maker for quiet a few years.
Rock Home Isle
54 Cal.
Take a good clear image of the crown and post it. Something like what I posted above…
And if you can, what does the inside of the bore look like? Can you post an image of that?…It’s nigh-on impossible to diagnose things unless we’re all sitting around the same table and looking it over, holding it, checking to see if everything is snug and tight.
I will try then to get pics, I did make a error I thought I had .310 size balls and well I went to test out my pillow ticking and the balls refuse to start. They actually deformed trying to start but one did pop in but was really deformed. I micd them and the measure .317. I also thought I bought a box of .310 and .315 apparently I didn’t look cause I got 2 boxes of .315. Dang it!
Rock Home Isle
54 Cal.
I cast my RBs for my .32 calibre. This is a very finicky calibre to get dialed in. I use a Lee double cavity mould and the RBs are .311 calibre.
My loads for my .32 is:
.311 calibre RB, 32 grains fffg, blue pillow ticking, moose milk lube. 1/2” groups dead on 50 yrds
.32 calibre maxi-ball, 45 grains fffg, beeswax/lambs tallow lube. 1” groups, 1 1/2” low at 50 yrds
There’s a lot of simple, mundane, things that can affect the accuracy of the .32 calibre. I’ve found that not being consistent in your loading procedure can cause changes in accuracy…for example lightly seating the ball on one shot, then really applying pressure on the next can move the impact point by as much as 2 1/2“ to 3” at 35 yrds.
The .32 is a very finicky calibre…Once you get this gun shooting well, and you do it time after time, over and over, you’ll be a hell of a muzzleloader.
My loads for my .32 is:
.311 calibre RB, 32 grains fffg, blue pillow ticking, moose milk lube. 1/2” groups dead on 50 yrds
.32 calibre maxi-ball, 45 grains fffg, beeswax/lambs tallow lube. 1” groups, 1 1/2” low at 50 yrds
There’s a lot of simple, mundane, things that can affect the accuracy of the .32 calibre. I’ve found that not being consistent in your loading procedure can cause changes in accuracy…for example lightly seating the ball on one shot, then really applying pressure on the next can move the impact point by as much as 2 1/2“ to 3” at 35 yrds.
The .32 is a very finicky calibre…Once you get this gun shooting well, and you do it time after time, over and over, you’ll be a hell of a muzzleloader.
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JoAnn's has a lot more options than mattress and pillow ticking. You probably made a good choice. Do wash your ticking. You need to remove the sizing that provides the feel of thickness but will impede the absorption of patch lube. As for lubricant, there's a lot of good lubricants already in your kitchen. A mix of 1 part dish washing detergent to 1 part water gives a fairly slick lube that keeps fouling soft. Cooking oils such as olive oil or canola oil are good straight. If you can't sneak the gourmet extra virgin olive oil out, then dampen the patch with spit. For many, spit patching is a top choice. Just damp, not wet.
Smaller ball, thicker patch is the direction I recommend. Don't use prelubricated patches as the material breaks down in storage.
Smooth the crown.
Next trip to JoAnn's look at the cotton drill, my favorite, the denims or canvas to expand your selection. Always get 100% cotton.
Yea I found mattress ticking but it didn’t seem right it was really loose feeling. I did snag .310 balls from a lgs, he never carried them before so I got really lucky. My pillow ticking after wash is almost .020 but compressed it’s .015. I was going to try a mixture of Ballistol and water soaked into strips and left to dry. I figured cutting at the muzzle might help some aswell. I’m gunna try and start a ball later tonight to see if this combo will work. I found other material there but I wanted to stay with the look of pillow ticking. Plus I can use this stuff with my Great Plains rifle aswell.
I had the same thing with a .36 CVA bobcat. 15 (FIFTEEN) years later and ready to trade away I went shooting with it and another gun for which I forgot the balls and for some reason had no patch material except some REALLY thin cotton floral stuff ya would NEVER use. So I thought I would use it so I could at least smell some burnt powder. Lubed (really heavy cuz it plopped out) with pine scented bore butter. Accuracy went to 1 inch. TRY EVERYTHING. Nobody I ever knew would have suggested that patch material (and BTW it don't shoot as good with just a lil bore butter or ANY OTHER lube). 25 grains. Its now in the tree rat section. Keep us posted.
Tried the ball and it pops right in the front of the barrel with just a little effort. A lot better than before and the fit seems to be good. Won’t know till I can hit the range later this week. I mixed up 7:1 Ballistol and water to try the fry patch thing. If I can get to the range I’ll post pics of the results.
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jcs266
40 Cal
I'm watching this thread with interest. So much great info here from the Pros.
Hopefully headed to the range tomorrow, will post results. One thing I did do was I took the brass pieces out of my ball started because they were too big even though it’s sold for .32. The small end measured .310 and the long piece measured .308 dia. No wonder I always had a heck of a time starting them, the patch material always seemed to get in the way. Put both pieces in my machine and turned them to .280. Shouldn’t have any trouble now. I did a quick check of the crown and it appears to be good. Tomorrow I’ll put my borescope down the tube and inspect really close for anything i may have missed. If need be I can recrown the barrel myself, but that will be a bigger project than I have time for at the moment. The lube in am tying is Ballistol 7:1 mix left to dry for a few days. Still seems like some parts absorbed more oil than others. I don’t know why I washed the ticking before hand in plain water and dried it before lubing. I guess we will just have to see where things fall.
Hope it comes together for you.
Your barrel, if new, may just need breaking in.
You can always lap or polish the bore yourself too.
If you do polish the crown, highly recommended, apart from rotating the finger and paper or pad also rotate yourself around the up right barrel to keep everything even action wise on the muzzle.
Also re lube, you can always melt candle wax and mix some form of veg oil into it to form a grease. Put it in a cap tin and apply a patch to it prior to loading.
By all means if you wish use a firewall.
I personally don't like felt as a firewall.
A few thin cards or an inert powder may work better but if felt is all you have how about trying two!
It does sound like the short starter was also causing an issue and I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was not the main culprit.
Best wishes.
Your barrel, if new, may just need breaking in.
You can always lap or polish the bore yourself too.
If you do polish the crown, highly recommended, apart from rotating the finger and paper or pad also rotate yourself around the up right barrel to keep everything even action wise on the muzzle.
Also re lube, you can always melt candle wax and mix some form of veg oil into it to form a grease. Put it in a cap tin and apply a patch to it prior to loading.
By all means if you wish use a firewall.
I personally don't like felt as a firewall.
A few thin cards or an inert powder may work better but if felt is all you have how about trying two!
It does sound like the short starter was also causing an issue and I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was not the main culprit.
Best wishes.
